Final round of 9th corporate Fakel Festival opens in Sochi
RELEASE
Release
The opening ceremony for the final round of Gazprom's 9th corporate Fakel Festival was held in Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. Taking part in the event were over 1,200 people representing 38 delegations from Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.
Denis Vasyukov, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Krasnodar, Roman Sakhartov, Head of Organizing Committee, Deputy Head of Department at Gazprom, and Yury Medyanik, chair of jury, at opening ceremony
The competitions will last for three days, during which amateur ensembles and individual performers will present more than 120 performances in six categories: Vocals, Choreography, Folk Music, Circus Art, Instrumental Music, and Performance Art. Individual performers and ensembles will compete in three age groups: 5 to 10, 11 to 16, and 17 and older. In addition, the Young Painter contest will be held at the Festival.
The Festival's jury is chaired by Yury Medyanik, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Tyumen Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor of the Blue Bird All-Russian competition of young talents.
The winners of Gazprom's 9th corporate Fakel Festival will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 17. The Festival will conclude on May 18 with a Gala Concert featuring performances of the best ensembles and the awarding of the Grand Prix.
Background
The Fakel Festival has a tripartite structure. During the first round, Gazprom's subsidiaries select their best performers, who then take part in the zonal rounds. The zonal rounds (for the southern and northern zones) are held at the second stage. The winners then perform in the third and final round.
The first corporate Fakel Festival was conducted in 2004–2005. The host cities of the zonal rounds included Astrakhan, Belgorod, Kazan, Khanty-Mansiysk, Nizhny Novgorod, Orenburg (twice), Surgut, Tomsk, Yekaterinburg, and Yugorsk. The final rounds of the Festival were held in Gelendzhik (2006–2012), Vitebsk (Belarus, 2013), and Sochi (2015, 2017 and 2019).
In 2023, the final round of the Fakel Festival was organized by Gazprom Transgaz Krasnodar.